This archive report was first published on 30 August 2019.
Reports have emerged of a major political faceoff brewing in the Nasa coalition, with ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang'ula reportedly ganging up against ODM's Raila Odinga in the November 7 Kibra mini-election.
According to sources, ANC is set to field Raila's former campaign manager, Eliud Owallo, who has officially defected to the Mudavadi-led party. Owallo, a Nairobi-based management consultant, previously served as ODM's strategist and Raila's aide in the 2013 general election before unsuccessfully bidding for the ODM ticket in 2017.
As reported earlier, Wetang'ula had faulted Raila for not backing his election bid, and Owallo has now echoed similar sentiments, stating that he lacks 'an iota of enthusiasm' to warrant his continued stay in the orange party.
It has been established that Mudavadi and Wetang'ula held a six-hour meeting at an undisclosed location, where they resolved 'to teach Raila a lesson' ahead of the 2022 elections. The two leaders also sought to rope in Wiper's Kalonzo Musyoka in their scheme of things.
With the IEBC giving political parties until August 26 to submit names of individuals who will participate in their primaries, the new turn of events will certainly jolt Raila back to the drawing board. ODM's trademark nomination flaws have ended up costing the party many by-elections, the most recent being the shock twin loss in Ugenya and Embakasi South.
As Raila will be forced by circumstances to let go of the unpopular tendency to hand direct tickets to eventual losers, Imran Okoth, the brother of the fallen MP Ken Okoth, is likely to be a casualty. With William Ruto said to have already identified a Luhya candidate to take on Raila's pick, it will be interesting to watch how things pan out in ODM's inevitable choice of the strongest candidate.
